


Pack Street: The Habit

by MisterEAnon



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Discussion of addiction, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-15
Updated: 2016-09-15
Packaged: 2018-08-15 06:20:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8045593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MisterEAnon/pseuds/MisterEAnon
Summary: Written for Thematic Thursday. Theme: Species Specific CustomsAvo's kicked the habit... Or so she'd hoped. When she runs out of lollipops, she comes face to face with her old habit, and temptation rears it's head.





	Pack Street: The Habit

(A/N: Avo is canonically an Egyptian Wolf, which someone has informed me is a sub-set of Golden Wolves, or Thoa. So that's why I'll call her that instead of 'Egyptian'.)

Golden Wolves smoked.

Even back before civilization, they had gotten together in communal groups to smoke herbs. It was healthy for them, and the closeness let the second-hand smoke be a useful benefit for the others, when resources became scarce.

Society happened. It wasn't hard for the wolves to be swayed by the tobacco-mongers, and later corporations, to switch over. Back then, nobody knew about how terrible it was for mammals. Now, it was practically hereditary in them.

Avo had smoked once. She'd managed to switch over to lollipops to help sate her oral fixation, but that only lead to her current dilemma.

She was out of lollipops.

She grumbled under her breath. This wouldn't even be a problem, if not for the fact that the brand she liked was only really sold on in one store on pack street, and it was closed on Sundays.

Maybe if she was lucky, Charlie might have some. Charlie tended to steal everything that was in a mammal's pockets when she was out working the streets, and that occasionally included pocket candy. It didn't take her long to reach Marty's apartment.

When she got there, she wished it had. Something had set Marty off, who was now incoherent with rage at Charlie, who was busy standing there and scratching her ass.

Avo knew it wasn't wise, but she ignored the shouting and opened the door. It was open about half the time, since Charlie didn't lock it. “Should I even ask?”

The easily-irritable stoat glared at her. It would probably strike paralyzing fear into a smaller mammal.

As it was, though, there weren't a lot of mammals smaller then Marty.

“Oh, you don't have to ask. I'll tell you! This- This absolute fucking SLOB of a fox has RUINED my BRAND NEW BOOK before I could even get past the first chapter, and--”

Avo decided to ignore the raving librarian, and turned to Charlie, who did indeed appear to have some kind of sauce staining her fur. “Uh-huh. Hey, Charlie, you swipe any lollipops lately?”

She could hear Marty blowing a gasket behind her from being ignored. She ignored him harder.

She shook her head. “No. A few hard candies, but no lollipops.”

Avo sighed. “Sure. Catch you around Charlie.”

She stepped out, and closed the door behind her. She didn't think she wanted to be there when Charlie and Marty ended up making up.

 

 

 

She ran into Betty next. The wolf was out on her stoop, smoke rising from the glowing end of her cigarette.

She stepped clear of Betty's smoke. She didn't really need to start having cravings again when she was out of her usual substitutes.

“Hey, mumbled the timber wolf. “What are you up to?”

“Out of lollipops,” Avo muttered succinctly. Betty nodded, understanding the irritable mood that was putting her in.

“Mm. I mean, if you need a cheat day, you can bum a-”

“No, Betty. I appreciate it. Really. But…” she took a deep breath. “No.”

The smoking wolf just nodded, taking a drag. “Right. Later, Avo.”

“Later, Betty.”

 

 

 

She hadn't been able to find anything.

She'd searched pretty much all the general stores she could find around Pack Street. And her preferred kind of lollipops were only really sold in poorer places like Pack Street, since they were cheaply made, and most sweet enthusiasts preferred better quality sticks.

Avo wasn't most sweet enthusiasts. Like most people who grew up with shitty junk for food, actual healthy food just tasted wrong to her. That extended to her lollipops- The flavor of it had grown on her, and now there was no substitute for her substitutes.

And now she was somewhere she knew she shouldn't be.

This gas station was pretty much her last hope. They used to carry her brand a while back. But they also carried her other brand.

The cigarettes taunted her from their place on the shelf. Betty had offered. Offered her a cheat day. She'd turned her down.

But these were her brand. Not Betty's cheap shit. These were what she'd been hooked on, and now she had nothing to replace them.. She glared at it. She hated it.

She hated herself for wanting it.

The gray wolf working the register noticed how tense she was, and seemed a little nervous in addressing her. “You, uh… You wanna buy something?”

She let out a breath. “No. No, sorry- I checked. And there's nothing here I want.”

She left, even though she couldn't leave behind the part of her that wanted to stay.

Golden Wolves smoked. But Avo wasn't going to smoke poison.

 

 

 

She ran into Al. Literally.

He raised an eyebrow as she stumbled back, bouncing off of his solid alpha-wolf frame. “Need to get your eyes checked, Avo?”

“Fuck off,” she snapped at him as politely as she could manage. It wasn't very polite.

He crossed his arms. “Okay. What's up.”

His question wasn't really a question. She answered it anyway.

She sighed, shuffling past him and throwing herself onto one of the communal couches. She hoped nobody felt the need to enter the common room at the moment. “Out of lollipops. Checked everywhere for the kind I can tolerate. Ended up finding a place that sold my old brand.”

He leaned forward, having turned to look at her. His arm-crossing somehow seemed far more disapproving, now. “Avo,” he stated, his tone carrying the exact same feeling as his stance.

“Fuck off, Al,” she repeated. “I didn't buy 'em. Betty… Betty offered me one of her smokes, even though I'm clean. I know she was just tryin' to be nice, but she said I could have a cheat day.” She paused in explaining, and the larger wolf took the silent moment to pad forward and join her on the couch.

“I wanted it. God, I wanted it. The idea of a cheat day made it so fucking tempting. Just this once, right?” She glared down into her lap. “It's never just this once. Never. And I knew that. So I left. And there's a part of me that wants to go back and get them anyway and I *hate* it. I hate that part of me.”

He wrapped an arm around her comfortingly. Normally, she'd snark him away, but right now she didn't have it in her to resist. When he pulled her into a full hug, she returned it only tentatively before giving in and letting him comfort her.

Al wasn't her Alpha. Sometimes she let that fact get in the way of the fact that he still cared.

 

 

 

She ran into the yarnball next. Not literally, this time, fortunately enough. And for some reason, it seemed like wanted to spark a conversation with her.

“Hey, Avo-” he started, only to pause as she lifted a paw to stop him.

“Remmy. I am in a really, really fucking terrible mood right now, so unless you want me to bitch you out, I'm not exactly feeling sociable right now,” she admitted. She didn't really have the mental energy left to blow it off with sarcasm.

He stared at her. “Well, fine. You looked down, so I just wanted to offer you a lollipop-”

She suddenly leaned forward, taking his shoulders in her paws. “You have lollipops?”

He looked affronted. “Yeah, I got lollipops. I've had a taste for them for a while now, thanks to a certain someone. But if you're gonna manhandle me, I'm not sure I want-”

She dropped her paws. “Remmy. Please.”

Her tone was the most honest he'd ever heard it. And probably the most openly desperate she could remember sounding. Part of her hated that. The other part of her was too busy wanting.

He seemed a little concerned. “Uh, alright. Here-” He reached into a back pocket, withdrawing one of her precious sticks. “If you want it so bad--”

She swiped it, clawed the wrapped off, and indulged in that special taste of sugar she knew so well. “Oh, god yes. I could kiss you, fluff.”

She thought about it. Oh, why the hell not. She pulled the stick out of her mouth just long enough to actually kiss him. With tongue.

As she withdrew, pressing her sweet relief back against her tongue, she left him staring at her in the hallway. “Don't think that's gonna happen every time I see you either, Cormo!” she added, feeling a little of her normal sass come back to her.

Golden Wolves smoked. But Avo had kicked the habit.


End file.
